How to burn lower belly fat naturally using anaerobic and aerobic exercise

Understanding Aerobic and Anaerobic Exercise

Aerobic exercise effectively means "cardio training". To put another way, aerobic exercise improves cardiovascular conditioning and function. Aerobic exercise increases heart rate and breathing to condition or improve cardiovascular health. Examples of aerobic exercise include walking, jogging, swimming or cycling. Sustained aerobic exercise every week is how to burn lower belly fat naturally. However, it’s not the best alternative.

If you really want to know how to burn lower belly fat naturally and quickly, anaerobic exercise is more effective. Anaerobic exercise requires quick, sudden bursts of energy that require significant exertion for short periods of time. Jumping rope, sprinting, HIIT and weight lifting are all examples of anaerobic exercise.

One of the primary differences between aerobic vs. anaerobic exercise boils down to energy use. In aerobic exercise, oxygen provides most of the energy. So, aerobic exercise maximizes the amount of oxygen in your blood. Basically, this increases heart rate and boosts blood flow to your muscles and lungs.

Anaerobic exercise requires immediate energy. In other words, anaerobic exercise requires use of stored energy for fuel vs. oxygen. So, your body ends up breaking down glucose and burning stored fat.

Why Anaerobic Exercise is Ideal for Burning Fat

If you want to know how to burn lower belly fat naturally, nothing beats weight lifting. As mentioned previously, weight lifting is a form of anaerobic exercise. Building muscle and burning fat hand in hand. This is because muscle cells burn more calories at rest than fat cells. So, with more muscle mass, your caloric burn naturally increases.

Most people start with aerobic exercise to lose weight. Aerobic exercise does burn more calories and studies consistently show it benefits cardiovascular health. However, most people hit a weight loss plateau using aerobic exercise. This is primarily due to the fact that aerobic exercise uses oxygen for energy instead of stored fat and glucose like anaerobic exercise.

To push past the weight loss plateau, anaerobic exercise solves the problem. Specifically, weight lifting and building lean muscle mass are vital to long-term weight loss success. And, contrary to what you may have heard, you don’t need a gym membership or expensive equipment. A $10 set of dumbbells that weigh 2-5 pounds are sufficient.

Other Types of Anaerobic Exercise

Perhaps lifting dumbbells sounds boring or just doesn’t excite you. No worries, you have plenty of options to choose from, including:

• High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
• Heavy Weight Lifting
• Jump Squats
• Box Jumps
• Plyometrics
• Sprinting while Running, Cycling, or Swimming

How Often and Long You Need to Perform Anaerobic Exercise

When it comes to any exercise regimen, consistency is vital. Ideally, you want to exercise at least 3 times per week for about 1 hour per session. Of course, you must avoid over-exertion. Consult with your physician before starting any new exercise regimen.

Click Here for a chart from Harvard Medical School. It shows you the amount of calories you burn for various exercise activities. Depending on activity, you should burn 400-600 calories in one hour. Again, start slow. Even 30-minute sessions 3 times a week really help burn fat and calories.

Lastly, plan for the long term. You must be consistent and commit to exercising for months. This is not some 30-day plan. For your long-term health, activity remains vital. Again, building muscle mass helps burn more calories at rest and transform your body into a fat burning machine.

How to Burn Lower Belly Fat Naturally By Reversing Leptin Resistance

Leptin resistance remains the biggest impediment to long term weight loss. Most people have never heard of it. However, the reason you always reach weight loss plateaus and can’t hit your target weight is leptin resistance.

Leptin is a metabolic hormone. It signals the brain to be hungry and eat or to stop eating. When you eat, leptin levels increase and you stop eating. When you don’t eat, leptin levels decrease and you become hungry. At least, that is how it’s supposed to work.

Leptin resistance occurs when your brain stops detecting leptin. When this occurs, your brain thinks you’re starving. Three things happen when your brain stops detecting leptin:

1. Your cravings significantly increase in both severity and quantity
2. You need to eat more to feel satiated.
3. Metabolism levels drop to conserve energy

Basically, the three things you don’t want to happen when trying to lose weight happen. You are essentially fighting your own body. Anaerobic exercise remains one of the most effective ways to reverse leptin resistance.

When you have significant amounts of belly fat, you have leptin resistance. Your brain should know it has plenty of stored fat. So, if you have belly fat and get cravings, you have leptin resistance. Essentially, your leptin levels are so high that your brain stops detecting them accurately.

Anaerobic exercise lowers leptin levels by burning calories and building muscle mass. Until you lower those leptin levels by burning fat, the cravings will continue. Plus, you’ll continue eating more than you really need to be satiated. Lastly, your metabolism remains depressed. Anaerobic exercise changes all that.

Anaerobic exercise builds lean muscle mass. That burns more calories at rest and elevates your metabolism rate. Plus, the burning of stored fat lowers leptin levels.

Importance of Protein When Burning Fat

Protein is the basic building block of muscles. So when performing anaerobic exercises, eating protein helps you build muscle mass faster.

Plus, the body burns more energy when digesting protein. Roughly 30% of the calories you ingest from protein are used up just digesting it. Fat or carbs only burn 5-15% of the calories you ingest during digestion. So, protein naturally elevates your metabolism during digestion.

Protein also naturally suppresses appetite and cravings. Plus, consuming protein naturally reduces caloric intake by up to 400 calories per day. Basically, protein helps lower leptin levels on several fronts.

By consuming 30% of your calories from protein and doing anaerobic exercise, you can reverse leptin resistance. It will take time and consistency. But the great news is you don’t have to starve yourself, count calories, or live at the gym.

Once your brain detects leptin accurately again, losing weight becomes easy. The cravings disappear. You need to eat less to feel satiated. Energy levels significantly increase. Burning fat goes on autopilot.

So if you want to know how to burn lower belly fat naturally, just eat more protein and do anaerobic exercise 3 X’s a week.